Rather than wide-open spaces far from a city, John Cheever’s “country husband” lives on a large block in an upper-class New England suburb. A near-death experience results in a growing awareness of the shortcomings of his way of life. He becomes more demanding and impulsive, leading to a dangerous infatuation with an underage teen, out-of-character behavior that causes his family to become social outcasts, and an argument that almost destroys his marriage. A psychiatrist has an innovative solution. Themes: appearances vs. reality, conformity, isolation, loneliness, lack of fulfillment, materialism, marriage (gender roles/domesticity, lack of communication/intimacy,), sexual fantasy.
Part of the story’s success lies in the way it slowly strips away the utopian myth associated with upper-class suburban life. Francis’s dysfunctional family exemplifies the community of isolated, often lonely people leading shallow, unfulfilling lives. Other than the troubled Gertrude Flannery and the “misfit” Thomas family, residents appear so desperate to “fit in” that the focus of their life is the soul-destroying task of keeping up appearances and conforming to social expectations
Rather than tying up all the loose ends, Cheever leaves readers up in the air about Francis’s future. Having narrowly escaped a number of crises that could have destroyed his family (the plane crash, his romantic obsession over Anne Murchison, a disappearing love letter and bracelet, being caught out in a kiss, and the threat of divorce), we find Francis happily lost in the holy smell of new wood. However, we don’t know what he is thinking as he smooths and shapes that timber!
Original Text / PDF (10,400 words)